Less than 50 degrees in the harsh conditions of the Arctic might not seem like the easiest place to film a documentary, but National Geographic photographer James Balog was determined.
The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art in Auburn and local group Earth-Now.org partnered to show Balog's findings concerning the size and scope of receding glaciers in the Arctic.
"He really wanted to answer the question: how rapidly are the glaciers receding," said Virginia O'Leary, co-director of Earth-Now.org. "He had the idea of setting up cameras with timers and putting them on poles that were driven into the ice into the arctic."
Using time-lapse technology and cameras specially modified to withstand the harsh conditions of the Arctic, Balog was able to record in real-time what was happening.
By accident, O'Leary said the graduate students Balog was working with captured the largest caving of a glacier ever recorded. The piece of ice that came off took 90 minutes to fall and was the size of Lower Manhattan.
"You see it coming off and plunging into the water," O'Leary said. "Then the other thing you see, of course, is the water rising. And as the ice melts the sea level rises. So it is very dramatic."
The museum showed the documentary, "Chasing Ice," Sept. 22 at 2 p.m.
"We are at capacity," O'Leary said. "We think it is perfect. We are excited because this is quite an extraordinary documentary."
Visit Earth-Now.org or NationalGeographic.com for more information on "Chasing Ice."
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